Keyboard

The TouchKeys multitouch musical keyboard comprises capacitive sensing strips stuck to the upper surface of each key, circuit boards housed within the host instrument that collect all the sensor data, and some custom software running on a connected computer. The system can be paired with any software or synthesizer capable of understanding MIDI or OSC, with the movement of the fingers controlling the kind of sounds produced. Dr Andrew McPherson now plans to make the fruits of this university research project available to other musicians by offering self-install TouchKeys kits to crowdfunders. Read More

The news release announcing the availability of the Leap Motion controller and supporting software isn't even cold yet, and the first applications that make use of its gesture recognition capabilities are already making a break for freedom. Asetniop creator Zack Dennis has joined the fray with an alternative to the physical keyboard he's calling DexType. Essentially a Google Chrome browser plugin, the Dex-typist uses mid-air point and poke gestures to select characters from a strip at the bottom of the screen. Read More

The potential for tablets as virtual musical creation devices has spawned a number of hardware add-ons aimed at bringing a new level of physical interaction to the table. Following this school of thought is the C.24 from Miselu: a Bluetooth-enabled, two octave wireless music keyboard for iPad that doubles as a cover. Read More

Today more and more people use smartphones and tablets as their main computing devices. But these devices typically don't have physical keyboards, and that leaves the door open for innovation and creative alternatives. Take, for example, the Celluon Epic projection keyboard. Read on, as Gizmag goes hands-on with a device that will turn any flat surface into a full QWERTY keyboard. Read More

Plenty of companies build Bluetooth keyboards for the iPad, with the end goal of trying to make the tablet function more like a laptop. The problem with most of them is that they can be costly, and are not built for the rigors of student life. With this in mind, Logitech is introducing its US$60 Wired Keyboard for iPad, which offers a more reasonable price tag and an extra helping of durability. Read More

Packing powerful processors supported by a healthy amount of system memory and storage, modern smartphones are just like mini computers that can be carried around in your pocket. As a mobile office, however, such devices do have some practical limitations. Even with the relatively large display offered by Samsung's new Galaxy S4, for example, having to use a finger to input text can be a real productivity killer. What's needed is a comfortable physical keyboard and more spacious display real estate. That's precisely what's on offer with the Casetop from Livi Design, a netbook-like LCD panel, keyboard and battery pack combination that uses a smartphone for its computing power. Read More

While splitting a keyboard into two distinct zones may well make for more comfortable typing, especially for touch typists like myself, you still need to reach out to the side to grab your mouse and confirm onscreen actions. The Combimouse addresses this by having the right arm of the divided keyboard also serve as an optical mouse. Read More

If you own an Android phone and you haven’t tried Swype, you’re missing out. The original trace keyboard has been around for years, but it was only available two ways: pre-installed on select devices, or as a “beta” web download. But today Swype has finally shed that beta tag, and landed in the Google Play Store. Read More

It there’s one thing that has stood the test of time while being continually confronted by challenger after challenger, it’s the QWERTY keyboard. A quick look at some of the many keyboards we've covered in the past reveals just how competitive this area is, and the number of options has exploded with the advent of the onscreen virtual keyboard. The latest challenger comes from Germany’s Max Planck Institute for Informatics and is aimed at speeding up thumb-centric typing on mobile touchscreen devices. Read More

Apple’s MacBook Pro is a modern computing design classic, but if you find yourself tiring of its industrial looks, then the MacBook Wood Keyboard by Rawbkny may be of interest. It’s essentially a retrofit kit which modifies the look and feel of Apple’s pro-notebook using either bamboo or rosewood keys. Read More